Tongue Twisters
34.4" x 6.6" x 5"
Plaster and mix-media
2017
Tongue twisters are present around the world, and they are a common game for native English speakers. However, on the other hand, it is also used in the ESL (English as a Second Language)classroom as a method of training for correct pronunciation. In this piece of artwork, there were seven mouths in order representing the pronunciations R [r], L [l], M [m], A [æ], S[s], V[v], TH[θ] which are the main sounds that Mandarin speakers have trouble with. Because of some of English sounds are not used in ESL learners’ native language, so they don't have the same mouth muscles like native English speakers. Therefore, each mouth appears tortured.
Struggling Eraser
3" x 1" x 0.5"
Eraser, paper
2018
The print of writing
6.6" x 5" x 1"
Mix-media
2018
The Tired Bookmark
6" x 9" x 3"
Mix-media
2018
The Time of Being Alone
10" x 10" x 10"
Ice, plastic glass
2018
The Time of Being Alone, a transparent 10 x 10 inches cubic box was filled with ices in the shape of English letters. While the ices slowly melt, the audiences will see a transparent human figure revealed to be sitting in the middle of the box. The transparent boundary separates the space of inside of the box and outside, the form of human figure posture and transparent cubic box created a silent dialogue. Does the figure finally suffocate or find peace?
American Surface
31" x 24" x 2"
Easy English News- newspaper
2017
The Tourist
5.1” x 7.4”
Relief print
2017
"Even though we are no longer in the same area, we are looking at the same moon," my family said to me when we were in an airport. This artwork was made in my second year in the USA. At the time, I was taking a woods path as a shortcut between school and my apartment every day. I used to be afraid of walking this path alone at night in the cold because sometimes I would be shocked by wild animals, tripped by vines, or frozen when I stepped into a cold puddle. However, one day I put away the flashlight and just followed the path in the moonlight, and I could feel everything around me. In this artwork, the moon represents the faith in my homesickness as my family’s words became a light that guided me through the dark. The title of the artwork, The Tourist represents my mood as always curious and nervous about something unknown. As time goes by, I’m getting familiar with this path and all-new culture here and I may no longer know the familiar things in my hometown, but when I look up at the moon I feel connected again.
